About Melanie and Fred Brown

Melanie and her husband Fred are life-long residents of western Pennsylvania. They presently live in Bethel Park.

Melanie obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration at the University of PIttsburgh. She then earned two advance degrees from Katz Graduate School of Business at Pitt, an MBA and a Master of Science in Management of Information Systems.

After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Lafayette College in Easton, PA, Fred returned to Pittsburgh, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from the University of PIttsburgh in 1971. He continued his education at Duquesne University, earning a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1976.

Melanie and Fred spent most of their professional careers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory located in South Park.

Fred managed in-house coal research and development activities at the facility, as well as national coal, natural gas, and Clean Coal Technology contract research programs.

Melanie worked in the information management organization a the laboratory managing the development and implementation of data management systems.

After retiring from Federal government service they founded in 2003 a small business consulting firm. Adso Enterprises, Inc. Melanie serves as President.

Book collecting has always been one of their primary personal interests. They emphasize modern first editions with the vast majority of the books having been published in the last 50 years.

Melanie has a particular interest in mysteries, including many popular authors who publish continuing series with the same main characters. First edition copies of all books by John Grisham, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Robert B. Parker, and many others are part of the collection.

Fred focuses on literary fiction, including the winners of more than 30 major literary awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, and Drue Heinz Literature Prize.

Their collection contains over 3500 books. Over half of these are signed by their authors.